HAPPY 163RD BIRTHDAY, MILWAUKEE, AND OTHER NEWS

By Michael Horne

Wisconsin's oldest city celebrated its 163rd birthday at Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin last evening, Tuesday, January 27th, 2009. Milwaukee's Mayor, Tom Barrett, was among the hundreds who attended the Milwaukee Press Club-sponsored event, this year with a theme, "The Future in Fresh Water," extolling the city's abundant water resources.
During the event, organizer Marilyn Krause of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel announced the winning slogan to celebrate our liquid heritage: "The Water that Made the Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous." That legend was emblazoned on six packs of "Brew City Blue," filled with said water, and distributed as a gift to the attendees. The label was designed by Sarah "Sweetheart of the Squeezettes" Kozar, and the bottles had been filled earlier that day at the Milwaukee Brewing Company on the same line that usually fills such beers as Flying Damsel and Buffalo Water Bison Blonde Lager, one of my projects.
Among faces in the crowd were such luminaries as the aforementioned mayor, Discovery World founder Michael Cudahy, its executive director Paul Krajniak and CEO Joel Brennan.
Political figures at the event included Alds. Terry Witkowski, Robert Bauman, Michael Murphy, Robert Puente and Joe Dudzik, joined by their President Willie Hines, Jr.
Earlier that day, Murphy sent a letter to City Treasurer Wayne Whittow asking why the city takes ten business days to refund overpaid property taxes to its citizens. (We're guessing it's so the city can cash in on the float.) [Update: Whittow's response says float is minimal and not a factor, here [pdf] is his timeline of the refund process--Ed.]
Hines is back from the inauguration of Barack Obama, which trip he paid for out of his own pocket.
"I couldn't imagine doing it any other way," he said, opening the way for a discussion of how the county board differs from the city in financing member trips.
This was timely, since there is a great outcry about Supervisors Toni Clark and Elizabeth Coggs going to the inauguration at taxpayer expense. The two issued a joint statement, wordy and ungrammatical, apologizing for and rationalizing their trip: "We must admit, if we had given it more thought or was advised of the possible negative ramifications of our desire to travel during this past week, we would have definitely re-evaluated our choices and opted to reschedule."
Over at the courthouse, travel is approved by the Chief of Staff of the County Board Chairman, and is deducted from supervisors' expense accounts.
The city, as usual, has a much better policy, as Hines and I discussed. All requests for travel are heard, in public, by the council's Finance and Personnel Committee, which votes on each request individually before sending it on to the full council for yet another vote.
The event featured food by Bartolotta Catering, served in stations around the museum, and including such treats as Risotto, mini-Croque Monsieur sandwiches and other goodies that the staff could not pronounce properly. Quite tasty, though, and downed with free beer from Milwaukee Brewing Co., whose Jim McCabe was among the attendees.
Judicial candidates Ellen Brostrom, Ron Dague and J.D. Watts worked the room, handing out their little judge rave cards. Remember, we have a very boring election coming up next month.
Bob Monnat was there, saying he had sold four units at "The Point on the River," the renamed and bankrupt First Place on the River condo project now being managed by Mandel Group.
Developer Peter Renner was also there, steaming about a critical review by Tom Bamberger of his Break Water project in the February Milwaukee Magazine. Renner has prepared a response, which should keep this debate ratcheted up for a spell.
The event was coordinated by Steve Jagler of the BizTimes, who is also a figure in the press club. Sonya Jongsma Knauss, letters editor of the Journal Sentinel, and another press club titan also was there, chatting up Diane Bacha, her former editor who has now exited the business, as has Joanne Williams, ex of Channel 6 and now of Cardinal Stritch, who showed off a rendering of her school's proposed expansion in the Brewery project. Other journalists included James B. Nelson of the Journal Sentinel and Sean Ryan of The Daily Reporter, whose Friday will be in ruins because he has to travel all the way to Green Bay to pick up an award from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. Life's tough. Readers can be assured that award ceremonies will never interrupt the flow of work at milwaukeeworld!
Evan Zeppos was there, as were Paul and Margaret Henningsen. Margaret says her bank is doing well. Also in the room was Will Allen, the MacArthur Genius Grant-winning founder of Growing Power. We talked about compost, and how one of my piles remained quite lively up to the beginning of the recent cold snap. I'm moving my operation into the basement for the duration, and he promised a pile of worms to help me out. Will has a look in his eyes that you only see in those tied to the land in body and spirit. Usually in Wisconsin you have to travel out to the country to see such a face, and then it is almost always white. Will is a refreshing change, and if our descendants manage to eat, it will probably be thanks to him.

VOTE FOR WILL!
[Will Allen is a candidate for "White House Farmer" in a competition begun in October 2008 by a national sustainability organization to encourage the incoming administration to use the president's home as an example (or exemplar) of local agriculture. The top three names will be forwarded to an "Obama administration staffer," according to the group. Among some 25,000 votes cast thus far, Will Allen is running third. Voting ends at midnight January 31st 2009, and you can cast your ballot here. --Ed.]
[Update, Friday, January 30th, 2009: With 39,000 votes cast, and voting still open, Will Allen remains in third, but has increased his percentage of votes, now standing at 3,545, or about 9 per cent of those cast. Thanks to those who voted from the link above.--Ed.]

QUESTIONS LINGER
The Licenses Committee of the Milwaukee Common Council held a marathon session on Monday, January 26th, 2009 hearing a renewal application for Questions Entertainment, 3041 W. North Avenue. Things got off to a rocky start when Atty. David Halbrooks, appearing as counsel for the club, objected to the presence of Assistant City Attorney Robin Peterson representing the Milwaukee Police Department, arguing "the city attorney's office should not be present representing the police department unless the police department officiallyobjects to the license." Things went downhill from there. As many as 15 police officers spent the entire day at the hearing, on duty, even after the city attorney said there would be no further police called to testify in the matter. And we thought the chief was trying to rein in overtime pay! In the end the committee voted for a renewal of the license with a 25-day suspension. The show will be replayed Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 9 a.m. on the City Channel 25, and is available on the web. It is already a cult classic.
--Michael Horne

BAD NEWS / GOOD NEWS
The bad news: A man was killed at a Monster Truck show in Madison.
The good news: He was the promoter.
--Michael Horne